down to Upton...

Saturday 16 May continued…


We left Worcester after lunch, dodging the boats still racing - they must've all been so cold bless them!

Racing boats and another graceful swan

Trains, vans, boats and canoes!


Leaving Worcester

What is a group of swans called???

The start of the race

I think the River Severn woke up today and had colic!! No more sleeping babies, just wave upon wave of pain – but I suspect it was still quite tame in comparison to some days! At times we had waves breaking on the bow, surfing the Severn! The sun peeped through the cloud intermittently, but mostly there was a biting cold wind (hence my get up of ear warmer, woollen hat - thanks Kim, it was the South American woollen one you bought me - and Berghaus windproof jacket hood) and of course driving rain!

I can just about see where I'm going!

Not many sights along the way, though we did pass a very large boat and a stunning building that even an MP’s 2nd home allowance wouldn’t quite cover! We also saw a beautiful Kingfisher; wow what an awesome bird that is! Orange breast and a sapphire blue, with hues of purple, back and wings. Unfortunately it moved too swiftly for a photo, even for the amazing Barry…

Worcester Riverboat Cruise

Once we arrived at Upton, Barry took off for a bike ride and checked out the local area…

The bridge at Upton-Upon-Severn and The Kings Head where we went for a drink

Our mooring Saturday night

One of the sunny parts of the day, early evening, just outside of Upton

Amazing colours and an unbelievably blue sky (didn't last long!)

How the other half live

Looks like a Monet I think! Beautiful...

The sky begins to darken once more...

Upton-Upon-Severn is a very happening place on a Saturday night, there must be more pubs than homes here! There was a live band on until midnight in The Kings Head, and a disco going on in the pub next door. We went to the bar of The Kings Head, right by the waterfront, and saw some of the local characters. We also had a couple of drinks with Simon from narrowboat 'Amy' who was parked next door to us and has been following our route since Audlum. Simon and Barry talked about the possibility of travelling down to Sharpness (where he comes from) and going down the Severn Estuary to Bristol. OMG! Not sure that is a good idea at all, though it would mean that we wouldn’t have to go the long way round to get there. Mmm, we’ll see, not sure I’m that adventurous…

Sandra and Simon - the latter a little worse for wear after 2 pints of strong cider!

Sunday 17 May
The sun shone briefly this morning so we went into the town and had a walk round and bought provisions, and managed to find a cafe selling real cappuncino's - two other places we tried only had the instant Nescafe powdered crap - I think the English concentrtate more on tea than coffee, but as a Kiwi I'm now used to good coffee! The Bell coffee house patron had his coffee machine on even though he was shut (long story about a BMW crash), and made us two - very nice man thank you!

The 'Pepper pot' tower at Upton

After much deliberation (because the weather has been mostly absolutely dreadful today), we finally set off for Tewkesbury around 1600hrs. We arrived here late afternoon and, due to the fact that we had to pay 55 pounds for a license to be on the River Avon (crikey!), we will now be cruising slowly towards Stratford-Upon-Avon over the next 15 days (the duration of the license)rather than going down to Gloucester and out to the Severn Estuary (hurrah!).

We are, however, boatbound and haven't ventured to any of the lovely pubs in Tewksbury as yet - if only it would stop raining!!!!!!!!!! Could be the river will have risen so much by the morning that we will not get under the bridge...